


Steps

by WanderingJane



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Young Avengers
Genre: Gen, set post-Young Avengers vol. 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-25
Updated: 2014-04-25
Packaged: 2018-01-20 19:32:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1522955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WanderingJane/pseuds/WanderingJane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She sees a blur of green and white, and for a moment, she thinks it’s Pietro coming to her aid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Steps

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Шаги](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1774207) by [Rainy_Elliot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainy_Elliot/pseuds/Rainy_Elliot)



> I know Wanda is going to come back to the Uncanny Avengers sometime soon, so this is an AU where she doesn't die and leaves the team (or she does die, comes back, and leaves the team).

She finds solace in mundane things - a cup of coffee, a gust of wind that pushes her hair away from her face, the bright red purse she finds in a second-hand store. There’s comfort in knowing that there is still normalcy in a world as dangerous and chaotic as theirs is. She knows that there are bad things coming. Anti-mutant sentiment is growing more and more each day, and the usual villains are coming up with newer, more frightening ways of enacting their evil schemes. And she’s still hated by most of the mutant community. Probably most of the superhero community, as well. That’s why she’s staying away. Joining the Uncanny Avengers was a mistake. She realizes that know. After what happened in Wundagore with Victor - Doctor Doom - she wanted some time to herself, to ready herself for what would come next. Atonement. She wants to atone for what happened, to repair the damage that she did all those years ago. That was her motivation for joining the Uncanny Avengers. All she wanted was to help people. Perhaps she will never be able to help everyone that was affected by her actions, but maybe she can still make the world a better place. 

But she can’t do that in a team of people. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Avengers, the X-Men, or X-Factor. There will always be people that hate her. There will always be people trying to keep her tied to her past, who refuse to let her move on. If she wants to be an Avenger again one day, she has to heal herself, along with those she hurt, first. 

She looks around the crowded room, the weight of everything making her shoulders tense. She breathes and tries to release some of the tension. It’s little things that keep her calm. She feels that power that had once warped reality thrum in her veins, but it’s calm. Not corralled, not restrained, to confined. It’s just calm. It had frightened her when she was younger. It still frightens her now, especially when she thinks about the damage she could do, but it’s different. She still doesn’t understand why she lost control those years ago. Her grief had been overwhelming, but even so, it seems surreal to her that she could take so many lives. 

Grief. Pain. Betrayal. Anger. Billy. Tommy. 

She remembers holding the two boys close to her. She remembers Billy’s tears and Tommy’s blush. Her two boys had found her.

She smiles wistfully into her coffee. She sees Billy from time to time. She’s met his parents, met his boyfriend, his team. She’s happy for him. It’s Tommy who she hasn’t seen in a while. Not since they found her in Wundagore. Her hands shake and drops of coffee spill onto the table. She pushes the cup aside, and lets her head drop into her hands. 

She didn’t get to see her sons grow up. She missed their first words, their first steps, their first birthday. School. Graduation. She wasn’t there when their powers manifested. She remembers the overwhelming fear she had felt in that barn, when the man tried to attack her, and she set accidentally set the barn ablaze. Was Billy surprised when his first wish came true? Did Tommy run so fast that he hurt himself? Were they afraid or in pain? Were they - 

“Are you alright, m’am?” 

Wanda’s head snaps up. A young woman with brightly colored hair is looking at her with concern. Most of the people in the coffee house go about their way, hurrying to buy coffee, to get to work, to go on with their lives. A few spare glances toward her, their faces confused, concerned, annoyed. 

“Y-yes. Yes, I’m fine. Thank you,” Wanda tells the girl. She doesn’t look convinced, but nods her head and moves away, nonetheless. Wanda wipes her eyes with a paper napkin. She hadn’t realized she had been shaking, quite tears streaming down her face. It’s such a peculiar feeling, both the dark swirling abyss of loneliness and the sharp stab of pain when she recalls her sons. 

She’s holding the now-cold cup of coffee in her hands when the explosion goes off. It’s close enough that the shop windows rattle and fracture. Wanda’s on her feet and half-way out the door when people begin panicking and trying to force their way out all out once. There are too many people in the small shop, and she cannot allow them to hurt themselves trying to flee. 

“Stop!” she yells as loud as she can. She lets a surge of power blossom in her hands, the wave of calming red light passing through the room in a brief second. “Please remain calm, and slowly exit the shop one at a time. Get somewhere safe and stay off the streets.”

“Who the hell are you?”

“She’s mutant!”

“Isn’t that the Scarlet Witch?”

Only a handful of people look angry at her. Most of them are too frightened, and quickly follow her suggestion. The angry ones stand defiantly in the center of the room before another explosion goes off.

Wanda doesn’t waste anymore time before running out the door. She shifts probability as she leaps into the air. She’s done it so many times that she doesn’t even have to think about it, but it always takes her breath away. Floating, hanging in the air. It’s amazing. She wishes she could fly, but it would spend too much of her energy. The strength of the wind keeps her balanced high in the air as she seeks out the source of the explosion.

There. Six blocks south and three east. She lets herself slowly fall back down to the ground, and runs in the right direction. She’s casting spells and influencing probability to the beat of her steps. _Thump_. The probability that the support on the building will crumble is reduced to zero. _Thump_. A spell to reduce an injured woman’s pain. _Thump_. Another spell to clear the smoke. _Thump_. The probability that it will rain is increased to 100 percent. _Thump_. The probability that the large truck careening down the road will skid reduced to zero. 

She arrives just in time to contain the third explosion. She casts the strongest protection spell she knows and tries to keep the damage confined into the smallest space possible. It takes more effort than it should have. Once the kinetic energy has been absorbed, she looks around, trying to both survey the damage and find the source of the explosion. The rain has put out most of the fires, and the wind has cleared most of the smoke, but it’s still difficult to see through the chaos of people and debris. 

Wanda pushes her wet hair away from her face – she’s never leaving home without a headband or a scrunchy ever again – and starts helping the injured. Other civilians join her and together they help get most of the people away from the wreckage. 

A red-faced woman clutching a crying boy grasps Wanda’s arm. “T-t-thank you,” she says. Wanda stills before giving the woman a wobbly nod. She shakes herself and moves back to the explosion site. Whoever caused the explosion could still be nearby and could attack again. 

There’s a high-pitched whining sound, followed by a loud rumble. Wanda has just enough time to throw up another protection spell before there’s an explosion. It’s not as strong as the previous one, and though she manages to keep the blast from hurting her, it still shakes the nearby building. She tries to lower the probability of the building crumbling down as much as possible, but it’s not enough, and the building starts to deteriorate. She casts spell and after spell, and influences probability as much as possible. She doesn’t know if there are people still inside, and she can’t keep the building up and go in to check at the same time. For one moment, she wishes she weren’t alone. Despite all the problems that come with it, she wishes she were part of a team, that there were people who could help her.

She sees a blur of green and white, and for a moment, she thinks it’s Pietro coming to her aid, but Pietro doesn’t wear green anymore. The speedster, whoever he is, runs into the building and seconds later runs back out carrying an older man. He takes the man away from the wreckage and runs back to her. She only recognizes him when he stops running. She can’t speak, and it isn’t only because of the effort of holding the building up.

“There are a few more people inside but I can only carry one or two at a time. Hang on, I’ll be quick.” He runs back in. She still couldn’t say anything. She reinforces the spells as much as she can, worry clawing viciously at her stomach. She can’t let the building fall, especially not with him inside. 

He brings more people out and runs back in. Again and again he does it, until everyone’s out. It only takes him two minutes, and by then, firefighters and ambulance crews have arrived. They help the injured and put out the rest of the fires. 

“The other explosion site has been secured and the culprit has been caught,” one of the firefighters tells her as he rushes past her. Her arms are shaking and she feels sweat rolling down her face. 

“Hey, you can let go now. Building’s gonna fall eventually.” Wanda nods, and he screams for everyone to get back. She takes a deep breath. Inhale-two-three-four, exhale-two-three-four. She drops the spells as she exhales, and releases her grip on probability. There’s a mighty roar and the building collapses all at once. She feels the familiar rush of being carried away while someone runs at super speed. 

“Are you alright?” he asks when he puts her down. He’s doubled over and panting. He too has overexerted himself in the effort of getting everyone, including themselves, to safety.

“Yes. I’m fine. Are you hurt?” 

“Nah. ‘S’all good.” He grins and pushes his goggles back. His white hair is darkened by dust and smoke, but he looks good, uninjured. Older. 

“Tommy –” She doesn’t know what to say. She doesn’t know him. Not really.

“Hey, Scar-whoa. Uh, what do I call you? Scarlet Witch? Wanda? Momjustsoundsweird.” 

“Wanda,” she says, trying to keep her voice steady. “Wanda is fine.” She knows he has a mother and a father. People that raised him, loved him. She isn’t his mother, not really.  
“Cool. Wanda. Anyways, I gotta run.” His grin is exactly like Pietro’s and yet nothing at all like it. “It was nice hero-ing with you.” 

“Wait!” She feels bile rise in her throat and a panicky feeling burrows itself into her abdomen. She’s only just seen him. She doesn’t know what she wants, but she does know that she doesn’t want to lose him again. 

He stops and gives her a strange look. “Yeah…?” 

“I just…how are you, Tommy?”

“I’m good. I mean, I didn’t run that much. It’s just that I had to carry a lot of people. Took a lot out of me. I’m fast, not strong.”

“Oh. I meant how are you in general? I haven’t seen you since – ”

“Since we found you in Wundagore Mountain. Yeah, I know.” He scratches at his hair and looks around. “Uh, I don’t do the whole ‘catching-up’ thing.”

“I understand.” 

“Yeah.” He grimaces a little before speeding off. Wanda bites back disappointment and turns to leave for home. He’s almost an adult now. He has his own life. His own parents.

“Hey! So I burn a ton of calories when I run, so I’m pretty much fucking starving right now. You wanna go eat?” His tone is nonchalant and his stance is casual, but Wanda knows it’s affected. His eyes are tight and they keep darting around.

“Sure,” she says, and they both walk toward to nearby diner. 

Tommy, Wanda soon discovers, eats more than anyone she’s ever met, including Pietro. She isn’t sure if it’s because of his accelerated metabolism or because he’s a teenager. Or both. 

“So, yeah, I was staying with the Kaplans for a while, but it got weird and I left.”

“Weird?” She doesn’t ask why he wasn’t staying with his parents. 

“Yeah, I mean they’re cool and everything, but they’re just…too nice. It was driving me crazy. Oh shit. I didn’t mean – ”

“It’s fine, Tommy.” She gives him a tight smile, and fidgets with her cutlery. When she bends over her plate, her hair falls into her eyes. She sighs and blows it away from her face. 

“Is that why you always wear that thing in your hair? ‘Cause it always gets in your face?”

“Yes. It’s very frustrating. And very dangerous in battle.”

“Yeah.” The silence hangs thick and heavy around them while they eat. “Anyway, so I left the Kaplans and Saint Billy behind –” Wanda raises an eyebrow at that – “And I worked for this company for a while. Then I got sucked into like another dimension or something. I’m not really sure -”

“You got what?”

“Oh. Billy and the other Young Avengers said Not-Patriot kidnapped me and I disappeared for a while, but I don’t remember any of it. I got fired from my job, though. That sucked.” 

Wanda doesn’t say anything for a while. She wants to ask him where he’s living, why he’s not with his parents, if he’s alone, if he’s happy, but she doesn’t want to frighten him away. 

“Are you okay?” She looks up from her cup of coffee – she never did get to finish that earlier one – and stares at him in surprise. 

“What?”

“Are you okay after…you know.” He resolutely stares down at the cheap plastic tablecloth. 

“I – I’m not sure.” She’s surprised by her honesty. “My powers are under control, but I feel strange. I don’t think being part of a team is what I need right now, but I feel very alone.”

“Where’s your brother?” 

“He’s with the new X-Factor team, along with Lorna. I don’t want – I need some space. Pietro can be very overprotective.”

“Yeah, I know what that’s like. Billy, he’s like that, too.” Something warm blooms in Wanda’s chest at Tommy’s words, and she smiles fondly at his exasperated expression. “I’m totally faster than Uncle Pietro, by the way.” Her smile grows as Tommy meets her gaze. 

Wanda’s back creaks when they finally stand up to leave, and her right leg is slightly numb from being crossed over her other leg for so long. She pays for their meal, and the two walk outside.

“It was very nice seeing you again, Tommy.” She pauses before adding, “I’ve missed you.” 

Tommy’s face does something very interesting, managing to look both pinched and pleased at the same time. It’s not a very flattering look, but Wanda’s smile is out of joy, not mirth. His eyes track several people as they walk back, his hands stuffed into the pockets of the jacket he found earlier.

“Look, I don’t do the whole feelings-hand-holding-skipping-into-the-sunset-singing-showtunes thing. That’s Billy. But, uh, it was nice seeing you. Maybe we can do it again. Not just the teaming up to kick ass and save people thing. Hanging out, I mean. We could do that.” 

“I’d like that very much.” It’s all she can say. Her arms itch to hold him, but she clenches them in the fabric of his skirt. 

“Aww, fuck it,” Tommy says before hugging her. Wanda stills for the briefest of moments before wrapping her arms around her. He pulls away quickly and his face is red.  
“Gottarunbyemom!” He speeds away in a blur of white and green. Wanda smiles.

“Goodbye, Tommy. See you soon.”

**Author's Note:**

> Tommy's "I'm fast, not strong" comment is inspired by Bart Allen's similar line in Young Justice (the tv show).


End file.
